DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.
DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

Student Introduction to Digication and ePortfolio Environment

(Faculty: Please have students bring their laptops for in-class demonstration. It is also a very good idea to prompt students, prior to demonstration, to make sure that they can log on to the University Wi-Fi system)

Table of Contents:

1. WHAT IS AN e-PORTFOLIO?. 2

2. USING YOUR ACCOUNT.. 2

A. TO ACCESS YOUR ACCOUNT: 2

B. TO CHANGE YOUR DIGICATION PASSWORD: 2

C. IF YOU FORGET YOUR PASSWORD: 3

D. ACCOUNT/PROFILE SETTINGS: 3

3. LINKING TO COURSE, ASSESSMENT GROUP, OR COMMUNITY.. 3

4. USING e-PORTFOLIO.. 4

A. TO CREATE AN e-PORTFOLIO FOR A COURSE: 4

B. YOU ARE NOW READY TO BEGIN NAVIGATING IN YOUR PORTFOLIO: 5

C. CREATING MODULES: 5

D. TO PLACE AN ASSIGNMENT IN YOUR PORTFOLIO: 5

E. QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR PORTFOLIO: 6

F. HOW TO POST TO A DISCUSSION: 6

G. TURNING IN YOUR PORTFOLIO AT THE END OF THE SEMESTER: 6

5. TROUBLESHOOTING.. 6

A. COMPATABILITY ISSUES: 6

B. DIGICATION FAQs: 7

1) Why don't I see this course in the "My Courses" module on my Digication homepage?. 7

2) Why can't the professor see my class portfolio in the "e-Portfolio" tab within the course?. 7

3) Why does my e-Portfolio have different 'Sections' across the top from my classmates?. 7

4) Why does my Journal/Blog post only appear on my Home page?. 7

5) When I go to my portfolio everything is there, but my Professor can't see it. 8

6) What do I do if I have multiple portfolios linked to a class as a result of a 'Test' version?. 8

7) How do I change the image next to my e-Portfolio in the list of portfolios?. 8

8) How do I add a profile picture to my Digication account?. 8

9) Is there a limit to the size of files that I can put in my ePortfolio?. 8

10) Is there a limit to the total size of an ePortfolio?. 8

11) How do I make a personalized banner fit correctly into my ePortfolio?. 9

12) What do I do if I’m receiving email notifications that I don’t want to see from ePortfolios?. 9

C. ADDITIONAL e-PORTFOLIO HELP: 9

1. WHAT IS AN e-PORTFOLIO?

 

This course/program employs e-Portfolios, through Naropa’s e-Portfolio provider Digication, as a component of your teaching and learning. E-Portfolios are online platforms for showcasing the achievements of your college journey, in individual classes as well as the larger curricular arc of your major. E-Portfolios provide an exciting new element for the classroom and make it easy for instructors and students to create and share learning experiences.

Naropa University provides a free Digication account to all undergraduate students. Your Digication account has already been established for you, but if you encounter an inability to login, email cfrederick@naropa.edu. Be sure to include you student ID, Naropa email address, and details of the problem.

2. USING YOUR ACCOUNT

A. TO ACCESS YOUR ACCOUNT:

 

  1. 1.  Go to: http://naropa.digication.com, this is the login page. There is also a Digication link on My Naropa under “other services” on the student tab.

 

Helpful Tip: Take time to view the video on the Naropa Digication login page.

 

  1. 2.  Username: Your user name is the beginning of your Naropa email address, generally first initial and last name (i.e. tsawyer, or tsawyer1 if a number follows your name in your Naropa student email address).

 

  1. 3.  Password: This will be your Naropa ID plus first and last initials. Click the “Remember me” box and bookmark the page.

 

Helpful Tip: If login fails, you may not have an account due to waitlist registry, etc. E-mail cfrederick@naropa.edu and include your student ID and the course that you wish to enroll in.

 

B. TO CHANGE YOUR DIGICATION PASSWORD:

 

Log in using your current username and password, as described above. Look at the navigation area at the uppermost right of the page for the words “Welcome, (your name).” Click on your name. This will take you to the EDIT USER PROFILE page. You should set a new password that is secure and easy for you to remember on this page as well as the name you prefer to be called. When you are done, scroll to the bottom of the page and press the “Save” button.

 

Helpful Tip: After hitting the save button you will be taken to your User Profile, click ‘Home’ in the uppermost left to navigate back to your Digication home page.  This option will always be available in case you get lost.

 

C. IF YOU FORGET YOUR PASSWORD:

 

You will need to use Digication’s password recovery system by clicking the “Forgot your password? Click here.” link at the top of your login page. You will receive the necessary instructions via email at your Naropa email account. Once you have created your new password check the “Remember me” box and bookmark this page.

 

D. ACCOUNT/PROFILE SETTINGS:

 

Once you have logged in, click on your name in the upper-right hand corner of the screen. This will bring you to your Profile Settings, which will affect all e-Portfolios you create. Here, you will find settings for:

  1. Changing your password
  2. Changing your contact info
  3. Changing the directory image icon associated with your profile
  4. Changing comment settings. IMPORTANT: if you choose to receive email notifications, every time something is added/changed in one of your e-Portfolios, you will receive an email. If you choose to NOT to ‘Show comments immediately’, you will receive an email every time someone comments on one of your e-Portfolios.
  5. Remember to ‘Save’ any changes at the bottom of the page when you are done!

3. LINKING TO COURSE, ASSESSMENT GROUP, OR COMMUNITY

 

You will automatically be directed to your Digication home page. You can always return to this home page by clicking the word “Home” in the navigation area at the uppermost left side of the page. On your home page you will see sections titled “My e-Portfolios,” “My Courses,” “Assessment Groups” and “Communities.” 

 

For Courses: In the “My Courses” section you should see the name for your course if you have been enrolled in it. Click on the course to enter the course pages.

 

For “Communities” section: You will enroll yourself in your program’s community. Click the “find” button. A search window opens. Type in the name of the community, then select “view” when the community is shown. Password to enroll screen opens. Your instructor will provide you with the password necessary to enroll yourself in this community. Insert the password and you are ready for the next step.

 

Helpful Tip: If your course does not appear in the “My Courses” section you may add the course manually by clicking the “Find” button and searching for the letter/number designation of the course, i.e. “PSYB425”, or scrolling through the course listings.  Please note that adding the Digication course to your “My Courses” does NOT enroll you in the course with the Registrar. That is only done through my.naropa.edu and the Registrar’s office: https://my.naropa.edu/ICS/Student/Registration/Register_for_Classes_and_Academic_Information.jnz]

4. USING e-PORTFOLIO

A. TO CREATE AN e-PORTFOLIO FOR A COURSE: 

 

IMPORTANT: On the course home page under the  “notifications,’ tab there is a check box that says “I would like to receive email notifications from this course.” If you leave this box checked, you will receive lots of e-Portfolio related emails.

 

From the course pages click on the tab titled ‘e-Portfolios’. This opens a page where you can create your portfolio from the course template.  DO NOT click the ‘Add Portfolio’ button which appears near the top of the screen! Scroll down to find the portfolio titled “Template” for this course. This e-Portfolio has been designed as a template for this course and contains content associated with the course, which your instructor has created. Click on “Create e-Portfolio from Template” to the right and follow the instructions. Now you have your own copy of the course portfolio template.

 

When building an e-Portfolio, who will have permission to see your content needs to be determined. As the administrator of your ePortfolio content, you need to select privacy settings and permission. Under the “portfolio tools” tab select settings. Scroll down to the additional permissions sections. Here’s the access level for each setting:

Viewer: can view your e-Portfolio.

Editor: can edit your e-Portfolio but not publish, and will receive email notifications unless deselected under user profile. Anyone given this permission will receive notification emails about your e-Portfolio.

Publisher: can edit and publish your e-Portfolio and will receive email notifications unless deselected under user profile. Anyone given this permission will receive notification emails about your e-Portfolio.

Admin: can edit e-Portfolio settings including adding and removing users edit and publish your e-Portfolio, and will receive email notifications unless deselected under user profile.

For yourself select “admin,” for faculty select “publisher,” and for students select “viewer.” In order to set or change your permissions click the “Portfolio Tools” tab at the top right of your e-Portfolio and then “Settings”.  Generally, select “Private to me” and then under “custom permissions” add the corresponding course by name or number (i.e. PSYB425 section B) to custom permissions.  This will limit viewership to the students and faculty for the given course and ensure that your portfolio is linked to the course. By the end of the semester you will have generated content that you will share beyond the classroom; in conversation with your professor and classmates, you will make decisions about what to share publicly and then you can change your privacy settings and permissions.

 

 

COMMENTS: (Default settings are shown. Use these unless otherwise instructed)

At the bottom of the settings page under the portfolio tools tab is the last section called “comments.”

It looks like this and should be selected as follows for e-portfolios linked to a course:

   

Comments

Allow Comments From:

  • select > registered users

Show Comments:

  • select > Show comments immediately

 

 

B. YOU ARE NOW READY TO BEGIN NAVIGATING IN YOUR PORTFOLIO:

 

You can see that the format of your e-Portfolio consists of three parts: “Sections”, “Pages”, and “Modules”.  Each tab in the “Sections” box has its own set of “Pages”, each tab in the “Pages” box has its own “Modules”.  “Sections” and “Pages” are organizational while “Modules” contain all the content.  Take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with this set up by clicking different tabs in the “Sections” box and then clicking tabs in the corresponding “Pages” box to get a sense of the flow of e-Portfolios.

 

C. CREATING MODULES:

 

While many assignments on your e-Portfolio will already have a text module created, you may have to create one yourself.  Also, you may choose to add media to supplement your assignment.  To do this, go to the appropriate “Page” and then click “Add a Module”. Now select the type of module you would like to create and “Add this Module”.

 

D. TO PLACE AN ASSIGNMENT IN YOUR PORTFOLIO:

 

All assignments must be submitted in a *.doc format (MSWORD). Please be sure that all materials handed an electronically comply with this request. You will find pages within the template for each assignment. Simply go to that page, create a Rich Text module (if one isn’t already there), and paste your assignment from a Microsoft Word document into that field. To begin the submission process, use the “Insert File” button on the formatting toolbar to insert a copy of the word file. The file should appear before the text of your submissions. When you submit an assignment, please delete the instructions about the assignment. ALWAYS compose in MS Word or Mac Pages (save to your computer), then copy and paste into your e-Portfolio. Do not delete any assignments from your e-Portfolio. Make sure you have a back-up copy of all of your assignments.  Now save your additions and then click “Publish this Page”. 

 

E. QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR PORTFOLIO: 

 

Use the “Help?” tab in the uppermost right hand corner of the page, or go to the “New to e-Portfolio?” page under “Home” in your new portfolio, or the template, and view the tutorials. The Help tab includes many, many answers, but if you cannot find a solution to your issue please see contact info at the end of this document for further assistance.

 

F. HOW TO POST TO A DISCUSSION:

 

To post to a discussion, login and go to the course page. Click on the “Discussions” tab. You will see a number of headers. Look for the one that corresponds to the week in which you want to participate. Click on the appropriate discussion. On the next screen, you will see a topic posted at the head of a list of responses. Please read the topic and respond using the “Submit Reply” button under the list. Enter your response, and remember to press “Save” at the bottom of the “Submit Reply” page. You may also read the responses posted by your classmate and respond directly to them.

 

G. TURNING IN YOUR PORTFOLIO AT THE END OF THE SEMESTER:

 I don’t think this is correct, lets look at it together

 

You will turn in your e-Portfolio in its entirety to your instructor via course assignment on the course page. Make sure that all sections, pages, and e-Portfolios have been “Saved” and “Published.”

 

5. TROUBLESHOOTING

A. COMPATABILITY ISSUES:

Devices can present compatibility issues. IPads have a limitations interfacing with Digication software. Digication has the following system requirements:

  • Supported browsers as of August 1, 2013:
    • Chrome (25+)
    • Firefox (19+)
    • Safari (5+)
    • Internet Explorer (10+) 
  • Adobe Flash Player
  • Javascript must be enabled and cookies should be turned on

B. DIGICATION FAQs:

1) Why don't I see this course in the "My Courses" module on my Digication homepage?

You must either be 'Enrolled' manually by an administrator or 'Enroll' yourself in the course page on Digication (please note that this has NOTHING to do with registering for the class through the Office of the Registrar!):

  1. Log into Digication using your username and password
  2. Scroll down to “Current Courses”
  3. Click on “Find” and search for your class
  4. Click to “Enroll” in your class
  5. Enter the enrollment password provided by your Professor or GA and submit
  6. If this does not work, contact an e-Portfolio administrator (email addresses at the bottom of this document)

2) Why can't the professor see my class portfolio in the "e-Portfolio" tab within the course?

You must link your e-Portfolio to the course page at the 'e-Portfolios' tab in order for it to appear there:

 

  1. Go to your course under “Current Courses”
  2. Click the “e-Portfolio” tab in the course page
  3. DO NOT click “Add Portfolio”!!!! This will create a blank portfolio, with no added course information.
  4. Scroll down to find the pre-designed template portfolio, and click “Create e-Portfolio from Template”
  5. Refer to instructions above regarding the creation of a new e-Portfolio

3) Why does my e-Portfolio have different 'Sections' across the top from my classmates?

        If you look around at your classmates portfolios and you notice that they have a number of sections across the top but you don't then you may not have used the template provided for the class. There were many sections in the template or model portfolio that was created for your use that are not necessary for this class, however there are a number that are and should be put into your portfolio as soon as possible.

        The sections that are prescribed for a course are detailed in your course syllabus. For instance, in the sections called “Journal/Blog” you will post all of your journal entries for the class.

        An alternative to manually adding all of the necessary sections would be to go to the 'e-Portfolio' tab within the course page, scroll down to the model portfolio that was offered, and click 'Use as Template'. You will make an entirely new portfolio and then delete the old one. Either way is fine, and it's really dependent on what seems to make the most sense to you.

4) Why does my Journal/Blog post only appear on my Home page?

If something comes up on your 'Home' page rather than in your 'Journal/Blog' or other area you will need to move it to the correct section. Any post can only appear in the 'Section' that you were in when you uploaded it.

5) When I go to my portfolio everything is there, but my Professor can't see it.

You probably didn't 'Publish' your changes after uploading them. Go into your portfolio, click "Published" at the top and you'll see what your Professor sees. Go to every 'Page' within every 'Section' where you made changes and 'Publish' the changes for each of those pages. After completing this go to "Published" at the top and double check before emailing your Professor that you have corrected your portfolio.

6) What do I do if I have multiple portfolios linked to a class as a result of a 'Test' version?

        If you go to the portfolio town within the course page and noticed that you have 2, 3, or 4 portfolios linked to the page you will need to delete all but the one to which you will be posting your work. You can delete them at this page or, if you plan to delete the portfolio entirely, you can delete them by going to the "my portfolios” area of your Digication homepage.

        Please note that if you have more than one portfolio the professor will be unable to grade your work as they won't know which portfolio you intended for them to see.

 

7) How do I change the image next to my e-Portfolio in the list of portfolios?

This is the e-Portfolio directory icon and here is how to change it:

  1. Go to your class e-Portfolio
  2. Go to the drop-down “Portfolio Tools” menu
  3. Click “Settings”
  4. Go to the “Choose a Theme” area, and click “Customize”
  5. In this area you will see options to upload a new directory icon, and to upload a new header image for this particular e-Portfolio
  6. Be sure to save your changes at the bottom of the page when you’re done!

8) How do I add a profile picture to my Digication account?

        In the upper right-hand corner click on your name where it says “Welcome [Your Name]”

        You will now be in the “Edit User Profile” area.

        The very last item is where you upload an image as your profile picture.

9) Is there a limit to the size of files that I can put in my ePortfolio?

You can only upload files that are 20 megabytes or less. Most videos are larger than this, which is why it's usually better to upload them to YouTube and embed them, as this avoids the size limitation. This usually won't be a problem for other files (like music or Word documents) unless they are very large (like an hour-long symphony in one file). Alternatively, it seems you can use the “Replace the Video with Large Media (Beta)” to upload larger videos, up to 1 gigabyte (1000 megabytes), but this uploading method seems to be extremely slow. If you wanted to go past that you would need to upload your video to Vimeo or YouTube and then download it from there. These platforms have the ability to compress larger files beyond Digication’s capacity.

10) Is there a limit to the total size of an ePortfolio?

No. As long as individual files are 20MB or less (see question 9 above), your ePortfolio can be as big as you want it to be.

11) How do I make a personalized banner fit correctly into my ePortfolio?

This can be done by resizing your image so that it fills the space (The ideal size is a width of 779 pixels and no more than 200 pixels in height). You can open your photo in Paint, Photoshop, etc. and use the resizing tool before uploading to your ePortfolio.

12) What do I do if I’m receiving email notifications that I don’t want to see from ePortfolios?

This can have two causes:

  1. You have selected to not show comments until they are approved on one of your portfolios. See the “Comments” section above to resolve this.
  2. You have selected to receive notifications from a course on the ‘Notifications’ page for the course, and uncheck the email notifications box.
  3. The owner of the portfolio has made you ‘Publisher’ for their portfolio. They must resolve this themselves, by going into ‘Portfolio Tools’, ‘Settings’, then changing their permissions setting for students to ‘Viewer’, and saving this change.

C. ADDITIONAL e-PORTFOLIO HELP:

 

 RevisedDigicationIntroductionHandoutforStudents 2-11-15 caf_ng.docx

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.
Show Comments (0) and Tags